Ice & snow plus an unpleasant boot adjustment
(2025.11.24-11.30)
Monday: Overnight the temperatures went down to well below freezing, and not for the first time since summer had ended; the ground had begun to cool down, faster or slower, depending upon which patch of ground you were looking at (whether it gotten shade from the sun or not, heat from a nearby building or not) … i.e. it was simply a bit unpredictable where it was going to be icy (in Bavaria, they are generally pretty good at clearing snow … buuut nobody’s perfect, also not the Bavarians 😉).
I walked over to my partner’s place, 300m around the corner, carefully skirting the bits of snow and ice here and there; still had a crutch with me, was glad of it too this morning, although I didn’t really need it in general any more. I got to B’s place and found that the steps were one solid sheet of (thick) ice … “Ah come on … it’s just a couple of stairs!” shot through my head, knowing normally I’d be fine. But this wasn’t ‘normally’, I did have an injury … plus a crutch … and I thought, “nope!”. It would have been asking for trouble – a slip, a re-rupture, whatever … but at any rate nothing nice.
I gave B a buzz on her mobile and asked her to come down with a pack of salt … just plain table salt is enough (if an expensive solution), nothing special, but it does the trick too, and amazingly quickly … and a couple of minutes later, all was good, safe to walk on … even for a cripple like me 😉 😎 🙌.
Of course, an important part of my day is doing my ankle mobility exercises. I’ve mentioned ‘toe yoga’ already … now, pictured left is not exactly the ‘right’ toe yoga, but it shows some of the general movements, isolating individual joints (or the attempts to do so, I should say 😅 ), moving individual toes or groups of them. Try it (examples on YouTube) … and don’t be surprised if you find it difficult; I’m still rubbish at it btw … but getting better at least!
Another thing I did today was to download a metronome app for the iPhone. I’m pretty sure that this is going to help rid me of a limp, when it comes time to shed the VACOped and re-learn how to walk. Together with measuring pace length and comparing left step to right – my idea here is to walk across paving stones or tiles (various stretches of the pavement (sidewalk) in our town has various sizes) to a metronome, thus equalising pace timing and length, obviously starting slow and small, then working up.
Positive Moment(s): Joking and laughing with my young colleague, Alex – he’s more than 25 years younger than me … but I describe myself as “15 years old with 40 years of experience!” … and I would describe him as “15 years old with (nearly) 15 years of experience!” … so we get on just fine, not only but especially, when we’re in “joke mode” 😜; my youngest brought back a 2 in French (the smaller the number, the better the grade in Germany; 1/4 school year report coming out next week … and THIS year I’m actually really looking forward to it / being able to congratulate him!); oh yeah … zero pain in my foot, since some time 🥳 👏 💪 🙌 !
Milestone(s): Not sure I really have one for today … but I did stumble across something as I was reading:
Tuesday: Yesterday, I managed about 200 steps in the apartment with the 30-20° VACOped setting – it was still pulling horribly as I ‘rolled’ over the toe end of the wedge sole … again, not pain, certainly not sharp or anything, more like … well, maybe like when a dentist is struggling to pull out a resistant molar – you have anasthetics, so it doesn’t hurt, but holy shit, you feel the tugging, and it feels … not nice 🤮.
At any rate, I knew I needed to move on from the 25° setting my boot was on, as comfortable and empowering as it was – an impromptu ‘catwalk’ demonstration this morning shows it’s definitely doable to walk without crutches; of course, there is anxiety that one is not about to step on ‘black ice’, or – for that matter – ANY kind of ice, really, but one can walk surprisingly well without crutches.
What I have noticed is how differently the movement loads your shin, ankle and foot as one walks in the boot without crutches. Like everything so far, it’s helped to ramp up steps (without crutches) slowly over the last couple of weeks to give my body time to get used to the different, basically unnatural loading – both with my shin and my knee I started to get niggly pains after a little while, not right at the start … but dialing it back down for a couple of days has, in both cases, gotten rid of it.
I still take a crutch with me, though, just in case; in my rucksack there is a telescopic nordic walking stick as a further backup … ‘cos it has actually happened, and does so increasingly often, that I simply forget that crutch somewhere.
Positive Moment(s): My ‘middle’ son, (27), ‘helped me’ (read, did it for me) get the set of 4 winter wheels / tyres into the VW bus for the (rather belated) changing from summer to winter ‘mode’ due tomorrow.
Milestone(s): Maybe the first moment of my life where I had to ask for help to do something I would normally have done in a few minutes. Of course, it won’t be the last time, as I age – I’m now 55 and I stop to think of an exchange on Reddit: some young guy wrote, “Age is just a number!”. I couldn’t help but argue this simply wasn’t the case – I mean, of course I support the idea that one shouldn’t use age as a reason not to exercise or to stop looking after yourself, which is possibly what they meant; but, if taken literally, simply seems ridiculous; with extreme examples (e.g. 20 compared with 90), no one can deny that age matters a FUCK of a lot and is DEFINITELY not just a number. Buuut 😬 … no one likes a smart ass 😁 ! I forget this frequently 🙈.
Wednesday: Today was a busy day … so busy, I pushed the ankle mobility routine back and back … and ended up dropping off to sleep without having done them. As I wrote to Chris: a) classic bad prioritising in the moment, leading to c) putting things off and off. I mean, I did some toe yoga and plantarflexion isos in the boot; I’m not going to beat myself up for ‘dropping that ball’ this one time … but I do need to find my routine.
What with my 15 yr old getting up at 5am, me getting up (or at least waking up) at the same-ish time so he’s not getting up to a dark and silent apartment; making sandwiches for his train ride half asleep, it’s clear that I need to get to sleep earlier than I am currently doing. Another classic case of bad prioritising … ‘cos I know that deep sleep (and enough of it) is a really important part of the healing process (e.g. collagen production) … and it’s one that I’m neglecting (or at least not taking care of it enough), struggling through on 5-6 hours during the week at least … which gnaws away at me internally.
It’s something I’ve struggled with again and again in life, and obviously I’m not the only one: you know something is important … but your ‘behaviour’ doesn’t match to the supposed ‘head’ priorities. Leads to cognitive dissonance, with psychological stress. And then you try to combat the stress (the symptom), rather than dealing with the internal stuff properly. Netflix. Snacks. Enough other examples.
On top of that I am really struggling with the move from 25° to 20° in the VACOped. It’s just 5 fucking degrees, I keep thinking. And it’s only the beginning 🙈. Which is REALLY bugging me. I had thought it was going to be: try it out on Saturday a bit, ease myself in on Sunday and Monday off we go. The difference looks tiny (each notch representing 5° freedom of movement … but it still feels HUGE … and uncomfortable … kinda makes me a little-sick-in-my-stomach uncomfortable, difficult to explain.
Now it’s Wednesday and yes, I managed a good 500 steps in the flat today with it ‘opened up’ … but partially with crutches; by the end it was feeling more manageable … but I still took the boot back to 25° again in the evening before going to bed. Conflicting feelings: I know I have to push this change through … and at the same time I’m worried about re-rupturing (and perhaps even more so, elongation). The fact that this is more or less just the beginning, and the thought of the coming changes most likely getting worse and worse (?), looms in the background.
Positive Moment(s): Looking at the snow out of the window from warmth of the train;. Coffee and a sandwich before work – it was the birthday of one of the ladies who works at the local bakery, the atmosphere was relaxed and welcoming. Then there was going into work, my eldest daughter filming me as I do what felt like a ‘Ministry of Silly Walks‘ performance in the company with just an ‘ESD lab slipper’ (keeps us electrically earthed so no chips / electronics get damaged by electrostatic buildup – means no EvenUp 😔 ); a Douglas Adam’s Towel Moment on the train on the way home.
Milestone(s): First missed Achilles Rebuild ankle mobility routine 😔 ; signed the rental contract, together with my partner, for her new flat in the centre of town 🥳 – ground floor, small terrasse, nothing luxurious but a solid little one bedroom place (we live separated … maybe more to the patchwork family problems later).
Thursday: As much as I currently really do enjoy going into the office, Wednesdays can be a bit much at the moment. The 5am morning routine has been extended to another hour or so after my youngest leaves the flat at 6:10 (15min work to the station, 35-45+min train ride to school) due to Toby (27) having a similar start but an hour later – he gets a coffee and, when his stomach isn’t rebelling at the idea of a sandwich, then I make him one too.
Thus, the remote working on Thursdays is a welcome relief; today, doubly so, as I got a visit from our much-loved little black bundle of fun and love, Fini (after the usual cup of coffee with my partner at her place once the lads are out of the apartment).
Minor digression moment: Fini is a delightful little 2,5 yr old Shih Tzu … those are the kind of dogs you see mega styled on dog shows. Horrible, in my opinion … buuut each to his/her own, I guess! So, two years ago, when my partner called from a rescue home, my first thought was, “Oh god … please no … not a hand-bag dog” 😅.
But fortunately, I couldn’t have been more wrong! She’s amazing: she’ll do hikes of 10km if the weather’s not warm, she’ll go for long drives (travelled by car over 3000km just before my injury going to and around Denmark), doesn’t yap AT ALL, loves playing (as you can see below), super cuddly, brilliant with babies and kids … after two years of her being with us, it’s hard to think of even one small problem we have with her < end of digression 😁 >
I still have my Achilles Rebuild ‘lower body strengthening’ exercises to do: it’s the third time I’m doing this, so it’s beginning to get a little more ‘flowy’ … still optimising the setup a bit so I can just move from one exercise to the other with as little fuss as possible, all in the space of my living room (it’s just a 3 bedroom flat, and not a big one either, so no gym or anything, just a few simple ‘props’) but it’s getting there:
Ended up running a little short on time for the local physio appointment (lymph drainage), exactly what I try and avoid – the last thing I want is to be rushed on the way to physio … particularly with snow and ice on the ground … would be horribly ironic to slip over and re-rupture on THAT journey. But all good, no accidents. Well, all good except for the disappering calf muscle, of course 😭 .
Positive Moment(s): My youngest brought back a 1- in maths 🥳 🕺 !
Milestone(s): ?
Friday: Decided I’m booking another day’s short-notice holiday today … last full day I have available not already planned in. That’s what this ‘spare one’ was for. Today, I had basically nothing planned – actually did around 2 hours of work, despite the day off, but just emails, plus, more importantly, going through some debugging at work (remote) with a colleague, all relaxed. So I figured, having had another day of screwed up sleep pattern yesterday, I was going to enjoy having our little doggo with me again (🥰), watch some Netflix, do some journaling, a little bit of shopping, laundry, cleaning, etc. and other than that, just take some time for myself.
Positive Moment(s): So, my middle son, who moved back in with me in July, decided this month to part with ‘his’ (read ‘rental’) bedsit in the nearby mountain foothills town he’s spent the last … 5 (?) years in. I mean, that’s not exactly the positive moment I mean (although I think, if one considers it as being a ‘burned earth’ situation / place, then it probably is a positive moment).
No, the actual funny moment I mean was: we’d been talking about writing the letter to cancel the rental contract – this needs to be in by Sunday, last day of the month (two days time) … otherwise we’re paying another 300€ for a month’s rent for a bedsit he’s not living in. I said, you need to give me the details so I can put a letter together … he replied, “which details are those, then … ?”; I said, “well … I’m not exactly going to write, “Dear Mr Mayor of Mountain Foothills Town, I don’t want to use your lil’ole bedsit anymore, you’re not gonna see another CENT from me! Bye … and lots of love, me”. He laughed. As did I. We will take care of the official version tomorrow.
One last funny moment of today was when my eldest daughter (30) brought my youngest son (15) back from visiting a cats’ hospice; I ‘piloted’ her to a parking space (snowy, not so easy here) then we wandered down to the local gas station … and discovered a ‘new Bavarian interpretation’ of Santa Claus – with cigar, Jägermeister (in his belt!) and all.
Milestone(s): After a few steps inside the apartment this morning, I finally managed to move the 25° setting on the VACOped ‘permanently’ to the 20°. After 6 freakin’ days of trying to get this far. Today, however, it really felt fine 🙏 … still going easy, still have the crutch and ‘feather’ occasionally outside (it’s icy, with some small amounts of snow here and there!), like when I was shopping and carrying two rucksacks of food (not heavy, but still a few kilos); I am not going back to 25° again, really no need 🥳🕺 .
Aaaand … just in time to start the transition to 15° tomorrow 🤣. Nah, not doing that … gonna wait until Sunday. And if it takes me 7 days per 5° notch, instead of the 4-5 days I’ve seen on multiple protocols (or the 15° in 2 weeks 😵💫), I REALLY don’t give a shit. My body, my injury, my choice.
Saturday: I noticed today, with some surprise, during and after a walk to the local shopping centre (round trip 3km / 4k steps), that the persistant, niggling back right hip pain that I’ve had for some years seems to be almost gone! I have previously associated this problem with jumping down 2+ metres from boulder problems and landing predominantly on my right foot in the first few years, i.e. 2016-2020, but after noticing the sagging (I call it a ‘lazy’) right hip (which is actually a left hip problem, I’m sure), I’ve begun to believe it is actually due to a gait problem I ended up with since who knows how long.
Now, it’s definitely too soon to be sure … but, since I noticed that my right hip was sagging just over a week ago, I have been actively trying to get rid of this lopsided stance, particularly when walking. Despite it essentially being a kind of habit, I am not finding it hard to stay aware of how I’m walking (sagging whilst standing happens more easily, but I’m becoming increasingly aware of this too). This tends to lead to a cramping in my left hip – I assume the muscles I need to avoid the sagging, which must be in the left hip, are super weak and thus have a struggle to work for more than 500m or so. Hence I’m taking a single crutch with me on all works longer than 300-500m. This would be an amazing, positive side effect of the Achilles rupture if I’m right … 🙏 🤞!
Positive Moment(s): Morning coffee with fresh bakery croissants. Now, there are many people who don’t like coffee, myself included for my first 37 years on this planet (probably kicked off by me sampling the cold dregs of a cup of instant coffee with milk in it as a 9 year old, the morning after friends of my mum had been to visit 🤢). My family and I love it, however … and today, all my kids except for my youngest daughter were there for breakfast – fresh croissants (almost as good as French ones in this case) may not be healthy … but they go well with coffee, so I got grinding and brewing. You’ll see from the picture: yes, I am old school (although it was my eldest son who got me on that track, go figure).
This means I manually grind the coffee beans and brew the coffee in a french press (2 if there are visitors). This all makes drinking coffee a much more conscious act and automatically limits how much I drink; I use a kettle with a settable temperature (use 90° for coffee water) … this also has a positive side effect: less limescale deposited on the inside (we live in a very hard water area) as the water doesn’t boil.
As I was just finishing the second pot, my eldest son asked (his timing perfect), was there anything he could do to help? “Yes,” I said, “please ask who wants coffee, how do they want it and then start making it”. His response was to shout into the corridor, “Who wants coffee, how do they want it and then start making it!”. True “Airplane!” style – great to start a day with silly laughter 😜 !!
Milestone(s): My middle son wrote his own rental contract cancellation letter, printed it and hand-delivered it – we’re both procrastinators, so I’m super proud of him 👏 💪 ! The ‘Beginning of the End‘ to my right back hip pain … ? Aaaaand (drum roll, please!) 🥁 … the first seated calf raises (plus the toe yoga is almost kinda working).
Sunday: Another ‘knackig kalte Nacht’ (crisp cold night) here in Bavaria … black ice here and there, but who gives a crap when you can’t drive anyway 🤪 😅 ?! Plus, it means I get a beautiful sunrise from my kitchen and bath roof windows (that’s the silver lining of living on the second floor of a two storey building in a low-rise area) … zoom in and look at the mountains in the distance, really golden!
So, yes, that’s one thing this injury has, to some degree, (if ‘only temporarily’) robbed me of: spontaneous cycles (with my beloved e-enduro) or drives (with my almost-as-beloved VW e-bus) before sunrise to somewhere close by to enjoy a dark sky turn grey and then slowly fill with glowing warmth; or just before sunset to go through that ‘golden hour’ in the amazing nature zone all around where I live; or simply going for an amazing hike up the local mountains and looking down from nearly 2000m up:
Positive Moment(s): Re-watching a great if short video about some German climbers still bouldering at the ripe old ‘collective’ age of over 300 years (4 climbers, one at 83 yrs old): “FOREVER – It ain’t over ’til it’s over!” – I REALLY hope I not only make it to that age (minimum!), but specifically ONLY if I’m in such a shape as these guys!
Milestone(s): First time outside without crutches (although I had a nordic walking stick in a rucksack as a backup); also first walk alone with Fini since the injury – only down to the mini field opposite from the gas station … ‘aber immerhin’ (‘but still’ – can you see … you’re going to get a mini German lesson as you read 👏 💪 🙌 😅 !).
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